


I heard you

by ChocolateAndRedbull



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Peter, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Sick Character, Sick Peter, Sick Peter Parker, Sickfic, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24291988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocolateAndRedbull/pseuds/ChocolateAndRedbull
Summary: An unknown alien brings an unknown threat to the Avengers.OrPeter Parker goes to bed with a stomachache that turns out to be much more than something he ate. Will Tony be able to cope if he can’t recover?
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 118





	I heard you

“Mr Stark?” the kid’s voice dragged him away from his concentration. “I might, um, go to bed?” Peter said, as if he was asking permission.

Tony frowned. “It’s not like you to have an early night, buddy, are you feeling okay?” he said, wrapping his arm around the kid’s shoulders.

“I’m fine, Mr Stark. Just a stomach ache.”

Tony hummed sympathetically. “You feel like you’re gonna throw up?”

Peter shook his head. “No, it just really _hurts_ ,” he hissed.

Tony knew he must be in pain when he heard Peter admit he wasn’t in top shape. “Okay, you head on to bed, let me know if you need anything.”

Peter didn’t respond.

——

Peter jolted awake when he heard Tony’s alarm go off in the next room and he felt a pang of guilt for not having his morning run completed by now. Tony fumbled with the clock until he got the shrill alarm to cut out and Peter listened as he stretched and stood up, heading directly for his room. Peter felt his eyes burn at the light from the open doorway despite not opening his eyes. He could feel the man cross the room and place a cool hand on his forehead.

“How’re you feeling now, buddy?” he murmured quietly.

Peter’s eyes were screwed shut as he shook his head. Tony frowned and rubbed his bicep soothingly, “Okay, you stay here, we can certainly manage without you for now-”

“But-” Peter protested.

“No ‘buts,’ you stay here, feel better, and I’ll check in on you around lunch.” Tony said, giving his back a pat. Peter sighed and rolled over, wrapping his arms around his stomach and closing his eyes. Tony bent over and ruffled the kid’s hair. “Talk to you later,” he said as he heading towards the door.

Peter didn’t respond.

——  
  
Tony sat at his desk trying to make sense of the paperwork Coulson had dropped off, knowing Fury would obliterate him if he didn’t have it completed in time for the next briefing. The door to the kid’s bedroom was left open so he could hear Peter’s quiet snores. Tony stopped when he heard Peter cough and splutter, and frowned when he noticed it didn’t stop. “You okay up there, kid?” he called. Peter just continued to sound like he was trying to hack his lungs up. Tony stood up and made his way over to the door, frustrated that he couldn’t see the boy in the darkness of the small room.

“Kid? Pete, are you okay?”

Peter continued to bark and retch, and Tony was beginning to get concerned at the small pauses between each cough, wondering what could cause it. As Tony began to climb the stairs, he heard Peter stop, and for a moment he was relieved, until he heard him retch. Tony quickly switched on the light and to his horror he found Peter sitting up, not covered in vomit, but blood. Peter coughed into his hands once more, both palms coming up coated in red and blood dripping from his lips. Tony froze as Peter looked up at him with panic in his eyes, pale faced and sweating, and his eyes rolled back in his head as he slumped backwards, hitting himself on the headboard.

Seeing Peter’s lifeless form hit the bed made Tony burst into action. “BANNER!” he cried, pulling the kid into his arms, not caring about the blood staining his clothes, and carrying him down the stairs to the living room where he met Bruce, “What the hell did you do to him, Tony?” Bruce asked, astonished at the amount of blood covering the pair. “Bring him down to my lab,” Tony just stood, staring at the kid and watching the blood drip from the corner of his mouth. “NOW, TONY.”

Tony jolted into action and carried Peter down to Bruce’s lab and laid him gently on the table. “Tony, you have to leave, I can’t work with you under my feet. I promise I’ll call you as soon as I know what’s going on.” Tony looked torn. “TONY. LEAVE. NOW.”

——  
  
“Tony, I’m sure he’ll be fine, you shouldn’t worry so much,” Natasha said, watching him pace back and forth in his lab.

“I just- I just don’t know what could have caused this. I mean- it was just a stomach ache. I thought it was just something he ate,” Tony said, sitting down and running his hands through his hair.

“Like, what if it was something to do with the attack? If it is then he could... and if he-” his voice catches, “-oh god, Nat I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if-” Natasha crossed the room and sat down beside Tony, rubbing his arm sympathetically, unnerved at how distraught the man was.

“Tony, Banner is a great doctor, if it does happen to be something to do with the attack, he’ll be able to handle it.”

Tony sighed, “I just hope you’re right.”

——

Peter Parker winced as he caught himself on one of the fangs of the alien he was tying in place in the SHIELD truck. He licked his thumb and placed it on the small gash on his wrist, wiping away the small trickle of blood.

“You alright back there, kid?” Tony called from where he was wiping the CCTV.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Peter replied, ignoring the slight burn of the cut.

“I think this thing is infected with some sort of illness, it certainly is not of ideal health,” Thor boomed.

“I’ll bring it to Banner when we get back. So just be careful around it,” Tony called, voice obstructed by the wire in his mouth.

“Got it,” Peter called, already forgetting about the small gash on his wrist.

The alien was dead by the time they got back to Stark Towers.

———

Clint Barton stood in the doorway and stared on in horror as Banner struggled to hold Peter upright and keep a bowl under his chin, in which Peter was coughing blood into. When Peter stopped gagging and vomiting blood Bruce lowered him back down onto the table and Clint realized that he hadn’t even been awake.

“Is he gonna be okay?” he asked solemnly. It was then that he finally took a look at the pair of them. Peter lay unconscious on the cold metal table, still dressed in his blood-soaked undershirt and pajama bottoms from the night before, blood splattered across his face and the table from coughing. Bruce was dressed in his bloodstained doctor scrubs, sweat glistening on his face.

“I just- I don’t know how this could have happened. I’ve never seen this in humans before,” Bruce said, pulling off his latex gloves.

“What is it doing to him?” Clint asked quietly.

Bruce wiped some blood from Peter’s red stained lips. “It’s embedded itself in his stomach lining. It’s eating him from the inside out.”

——

Tony sat in the meeting room, staring into space, white as a sheet.  
“Is there any chance?” he asked no one in particular.

“I’ve put him on a lot of stuff we have. We should know soon if it’s working.” Bruce said, still in doctor mode.

“And if it doesn’t?

Pepper interrupted him. “Don’t talk like that, Tony. He’ll be-”  
She was interrupted by screaming coming from downstairs. Peter screaming. Tony winced as he heard the agonizing screams of his kid lying downstairs writhing in agony. “Can’t you do anything for the pain?”

“He’s on a steady stream of morphine. There’s nothing more I can do for him right now.”

Tony sighed and tried to ignore the screams from downstairs.

——  
  
Tony sat and held Peter’s hand. Bruce and Tony had moved him into a spare room near Tony’s when they realized there was nothing more they could do for him. Tony sat and held his hand as he screamed and writhed in pain, his face scrunched up in agony. He pulled his hands away when he tried to claw at the source of pain in his stomach. He changed his pajamas when he sweated through them. He held him upright as blood was forced from his mouth and wiped his face afterwards.  
  
“Tony, it’s been two days, you need to go and get some sleep. There’s nothing we can do for him right now. Just go, I’ll stay with him. I’ll take care of him. I promise.”

Tony sighed. “Is he going to wake up, Bruce?”

“He hasn’t gotten worse, I’ll give him that. He certainly wants to hold on.” 

“I don’t need to be told that he’s strong. I know that. I want to know if he’s going to pull through this,” Tony said, never taking his eyes off of him.

Bruce sighed. “I don’t know, Tony, I just don’t know.”

——

Eleven days later, as Tony sat holding the kid’s hand, Bruce walked in, “Tony, we have to be realistic here, you can’t spend all your time down here with him. It’s not good for you.”

Tony didn’t look at the doctor. “I love him so much, Bruce. And I never told him. How can I let him die without knowing what he meant to me?”

“I think you should tell him that. Say what you want to say now. And if he wakes up you can tell him again, and if he- if he doesn’t wake up, then you’ll have told him, regardless of whether or not he heard you.”

When Tony didn’t respond, Bruce stood up, fixed the IV and left without saying another word.

———

10 days later, as Bruce made yet another cup of coffee, he heard screaming, but not the painful screaming the team had become somewhat accustomed to. This was happy, joyful screaming, emanating from Tony Stark.

“HE’S AWAKE! BANNER, COME HERE! HE’S AWAKE, OH GOD, HE’S AWAKE!”

Bruce abandoned his coffee and followed Natasha, Clint and Thor down to the bedroom, where Peter was lying with his tired eyes open, listening to Tony natter on about nonsense, hardly making sense at all, just so happy to see him awake.

  
After a half hour of Peter nearly falling asleep during conversations, Bruce recommended more sleep and left, quickly followed by Natasha, Clint and Thor. Tony stayed behind and grabbed his hand. “Pete, I just wanted to say, I-”

“I know, Mr Stark,” he whispered hoarsely, “I heard you.”  



End file.
